


Rifts

by SharkEnthusiast



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Cuban Lance (Voltron), F/M, Gen, Hunk & Lance (Voltron) Friendship, Hurt Lance (Voltron), Lance & Rachel (Voltron) are Twins, Lance (Voltron) Angst, Lance (Voltron) Has PTSD - Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Lance (Voltron) is a Mess, Like, emotionally, or something idk
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-26
Updated: 2019-11-26
Packaged: 2021-02-26 01:26:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,150
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21575236
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SharkEnthusiast/pseuds/SharkEnthusiast
Summary: Rachel does not know what space turned her brother into. (A robot, maybe. A clone of Takashi Shirogane, a clone of Keith, too. An emotionless bastard, with too many scars to count and not enough smiles.) (She wants her brother back. She wants him back. God, she’d do anything.)
Relationships: Allura & Coran & Hunk & Keith & Lance & Pidge | Katie Holt & Shiro, Allura & Lance (Voltron), Hunk & Lance (Voltron), Lance & Lance's Family (Voltron), Lance & Marco & Veronica (Voltron), Lance & Rachel (Voltron), Lance & Veronica (Voltron), Lisa/Marco (Voltron)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 166





	Rifts

**Author's Note:**

> lowkey why did i write this  
> eh whatever im pretty sure this fandom is dying

Lance came back from space  _ built. _

It’s a weird thought for Rachel to have, but it’s true. He’s not her twig little brother anymore, no skinny arms and legs, ribs sticking out. 

Last week, he beat Marco in an arm wrestle, easy. Casual, like it was nothing. Not the struggle for the Lance 5 years ago, with the clenched grin and long face when he lost. 

Lance came back from space built and sad and scarred. Rachel can’t pretend she doesn’t notice the nightmares, the diluted smile, the starburst shaped scar on his back, raised and painful and jagged. (“Explosion.” He told her, sitting on his bed. “The first month we were in space.”)

She cannot pretend she doesn’t hear Luis’s careful worried whispers to Lisa at night, doesn’t see the bandages wrapped around Lance, the hard set mouth, the absence of tears, the juniberry flowers at the grave, the altean marks, the practicing on the training deck for something that doesn’t exist anymore. 

Rachel sees all of this and cannot help but feel rage at Takashi Shirogane.  _ He dragged Lance into it, without a second thought, dragged kids into a war all to adult for them. _

She talks to Veronica about it, who shakes her head. Like Rachel is too little to understand, like they’re young again and Rachel will never live up to her older sister. (Jokes on her, though. She did. She’s 100 times happier than Veronica ever was, Garrison graduate or not.) 

“Takashi Shirogane saved us all. If he hadn’t dragged Lance out there, the Galra would have come sooner and we would all be dead.”

Rachel doesn’t know about that, but either way, she doesn’t think it should have been Lance.

She runs into Hunk most days when checking in on him, who’s usually carrying a water bottle or two and a couple of granola bars. He always looks just as sad about it all as Rachel feels. 

“He’s worse today.” Hunk told her two weeks ago. “See? He’s working on close combat. With the sword.”

“Oh.” Is all Rachel says, but now she looks for the gun and the sword before walking in. 

“Hey.” She says, today as she enters. 

He doesn’t acknowledge her. 

It’s the gun today. 

Rachel watches. Watches the ripple of muscles under a battered suit that shouldn’t be in use anymore. Watches the gun shoot and shoot and shoot and watches sweat drip down her baby brother's troubled face, watches him grit his teeth and shoot and shoot and shoot. 

And then she’s angry. And it’s not about Shiro anymore, it’s about Lance and the training and the war he came back from and the girlfriend and the absence. 

“The war is over, Lance.” She says. Spits, because she wants Lance to hear her over the sound of the gun.

“What?” He says, stopping, statue still. “Pause sequence.” He continues. Everything goes quiet.

“The war is over, Lance,” Rachel repeats. Louder. 

“I know.” His bayard raises again. “Resume sequence.” He’s louder too. Lance used to not get mad like this. Did not use to bottle up like this. Used to turn around and talk, cry and scream and yell.

Rachel does not know what space turned her brother into. (A robot, maybe. A clone of Takashi Shirogane, a clone of Keith, too. An emotionless bastard, with too many scars to count and not enough smiles.) (She wants her brother back. She wants him back. God, she’d do anything.)

“No,” Rachel says. “Stop sequence!” She calls, but it doesn’t pick up her voice. Lance’s bayard has switched to the sword, and he’s attacking the drones with much more force than what’s required. 

“You don’t need to be fucking training, Lance, because the war is over!  _ Coño, _ Lance, listen to me! End the fucking sequence!” She’s yelling now. She knows she shouldn’t antagonize him, but she wants a reaction. Anything. (She wants her brother back.)

He listens to her. Shuts off the sequence and turns around to face her. (He looks all wrong. He is not her brother, but some poorly made clone of Keith Kogane, face stoic and closed and angry and brooding.)

“What is your problem, Rachel!” He hisses. Steps forward.

“Look.” She says. Steps forward too. “I get that you are grieving. I get you don’t know how the hell to go on with your life now that the war is over. I get that you have some freaky PTSD thing going on, but Lance.” She breathes. “You are not Keith Kogane. You are not some stoic asshole, some one-man army. We are your  _ family,  _ Lance. You always said family mattered most. So fucking talk to me. Or Veronica. Or mom. Hell, even a fucking therapist if that gets you to be you again.”

He sneers. Rachel does not like the way that expression looks on his face. Does not like the way the muscles twist, cruel. 

He never used to laugh at her. 

“God, it’s been 5 years, Rachel! I fought in a war for almost 5 years! And I’m sorry I'm not holding up to your expectations of who I should be, but you cannot expect me to not have changed.”

“I just fucking miss you, Lance!” She says. She can feel tears prickling in her eyes because she  _ always _ cries when she’s angry. Her and Lance used to have that in common. (Guess they don’t anymore). “And fuck, I get it, you’ve changed, and it’s so so  _ hard _ , but christ! I want to know you again. You’re my brother and your acting like a stranger!” She sucks in a breath, and pretends it’s not all shaky. “You can train now, I guess.” She turns around. Pauses. Pretends she can’t feel his eyes on her back. She’s been doing a lot of pretending recently. 

She walks out the door. Lance does not follow her. 

Rachel does not see him that night at dinner. Or at breakfast the next morning. 

Lance stops her when she’s out walking the Holts dog Bae Bae around Altea. 

“Where were you?” She asks him. His skin looks less dull. He must have done his skincare routine. 

“Doing stuff.” 

“Mama cried. She didn’t know where you were at dinner.”

“Oh.” Is all he says, and Rachel feels bad, no matter how much he deserves to know that he is the cause of the rift in their family. 

Rachel does not say anything. Tightens her grip on Bae Bae’s leash, watches as Lance reaches down to scratch her around her ears. 

“Hey, I was thinking,” He says. Looks up. Bae Bae wines, so he continues scratching her. “I never got to finish Killbot Phantasm I in space. Wanna play?”

Rachel cannot help from smiling. (She feel stupid that she cannot stay mad at him). 

Even if Lance is the cause of the rift, Rachel is glad he’s trying to sew it back up. 

“Sure.”

**Author's Note:**

> bruhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh


End file.
